The Life of Mrs. Miles

My Blog friends Cicero Sings & D

I was thrilled to have a visit, this past Tuesday with my blog buddy, E and her husband D. They live much north of us here in the Sunny Okanagan, and they sometimes come south to stock up on the riches of our hot and sunny area - they come for the fruit! So, arranging a few days ahead via email we set up a time to get together. They could not have picked a more perfect day, too. We are experiencing an Indian Summer, in fact there were water skiiers out on the lake as late as October 1st - and not in wetsuits neither!

We had a delightful visit {I can NEVER fit in enough in the short times we are together} We lunched, we shared, we walked. You can see more of our visit by visiting E's blog by clicking HERE. They visited places in our own valley I never even knew existed - and E takes FINE photos.

E. is a talented maker of handmade soaps and good - snarfling body oils, and she blessed us with a few samples. Incomparable to anything found in a store, and oh so delish to the nostrils! Thanks E. We WILL make it up your way one fine day.



handmade soaps and body oil
by Cicero Sings
{love the bee shape}

Even the Insects came out in abundance to say hello to E and D for their visit!

Marie at 60!
credits: KimB's Barbara Kit (ya, ya - named after MEEEE!)
(Kims got a YUMMALICIOUS freebie today on her BLOG!)

I was ITCHING to use this namesake kit Kim created for my 50th -how appropriate to use it for my friend Marie's milestone celebration. It happened when our Mom and Dad were here for a visit, and because they've met before we all went out for a delectable Chinese meal at a restaurant owned by our friends Amy and Ben. Amy is a talented karaoke singer and so she serenaded Marie with both the traditional Happy Birthday song, and then another she learned recently. Unfortunately this song was in Chinese, so we could not understand the words, but it sure sounded beautiful!

Marie is going to be a new mommy any day - well I mean there will soon be a new baby at her house - one of the alpaca's are expecting and so we keep waiting for the new arrival.

I have JUST recieved message of a prayer need for someone I know. I'm not at liberty to disclose WHO it is at this time, only could you please offer up a prayer for this unnamed person, please?

I wanted to try to make my blog as exciting today as my friend LINDA'S. I always want to put on a party hat and dress up (or down) for a visit to her blog as there's so much happening I can't even think straight afterward. If you can't beat 'em, join em, I say, so today I'm going to make it seem like my ordinary recent canning tomatos adventure was party like too. Well it WAS sort of, I always put on some lively music and just GO for it when I am working in the kitchen. Feels like I have been in there for the entire last month. Am I being internally 'cued' by the downswing in the economy, or is this a menopause thing? I've been 'putting up' food like mad this year. Think its an internal indicator of a long winter coming?

Don't forget to hop on over to Linda's blog - there's ALWAYS a party going on, and more often than not a gorgeous freebie! CLICK here!

And, if you're looking for a GOOD read and some inspiration my friend JanMary always has something interesting to share in the way of photography, crafts and inspiration. She has a gift of writing and gleaning all the best bits of life to share with us! Her blog (toot toot) got a feature on ivillage recently too! Just click HERE.

I know Mr. Mile's eyebrows go up each time he sees a new batch of 'something' simmering on the back burner and has vocally wondered how long this will continue... I do assure him the fruit can't last forever! He will be mighty grateful in those long, cold winter days - I can open a jar of Okanagan Sunshine (peaches, tomato sauce) for him!

BACK to what I was saying, I'm going to be Linda-like and post my canning venture video here. I put music to it. The music has NOTHING to do with the canning, just has a good beat. It will even cut off at an erratic moment as if I'd chosen to make the song full length then the photos would have been spread out to something like a 45 seconds each ... LOL - you would get bored and leave my little party! I created this slideshow using the new Picasa3 beta - has some way cool features!

From Movies

And in the same spirit as Linda, I'll have TWO giveaways! The first is a BIG TOMATO element because then you can have a home made tomatoe too (rotfl!) It is from my Olivia's Kitchen Kit, so personal use only. But I've got a preview of Olivia's Kitchen here because perhaps you will be inspired to scrap your own food preservation adventures too. If you feel the need, just click HERE to buy the entire kit from Sophia Sarducci!

OLIVIA'S KITCHEN KIT
by Olivia Dorazio

The BIG TOMATO Element

download
(personal use)

And yes, I mentioned another giveaway. This one is kinda cool! I signed up for a beta at ONELLAMA recently and am HAPPILY enjoying it. What is it? Its a website which lets you search for artists you like, then it compiles a list of radio stations for you that play that artist. You can even store your favorites too. Its clean, cool and easy to use. As a beta its not yet open to the public, but I was granted three invites. I gave Mr. Miles my first one - will you be # 2 and 3? Leave me a comment indicating if you would like a chance to be chosen for my two open invites - I'll pick them for tomorrow's blog entry!

Till then, as Linda would say, and in complete Linda fashion - Bon Apetit!